A total of 65.3% of those polled
in FTW’s Durban/Richards
Bay survey –which included highlevel
and operational management
participants from the freight
sector – said they had experienced
delays at Durban Container
Terminal (DCT).
And while the average delay
a decade ago was two to five
hours, this figure has increased
significantly with delays of up
to five days in some instances.
The average delays were noted as
between 12 and 18 hours.
“Volumes into Durban have
increased 10-fold during this
period but infrastructure
development has not kept up,
hence the bottlenecks at the port,”
said Vischal Dhudibal, regional
manager for Sasfin Premier
Logistics.
GAC Laser International
Logistics’ regional managing
executive KwaZulu Natal and
Gauteng, Carol Holland, pointed
out that road infrastructure and
access to the port had never been
properly addressed, adding that
growth in volumes into and out of
the port had also never been taken
into account during the planning
stages.
Respondents largely blamed
truck congestion and increased
truck turnaround times at the port
for the biggest delays, pointing
to the fact that on average about
4 000 trucks per day were
operational in and around the
port.
Most cited “operational
inefficiencies” as the root cause
of the delays, with director of
Project Logistics Management,
Carl Webb summing up a
sentiment expressed by many:
“Port management has no sense
of responsibility and will not take
ownership of the problems.”
Jeremiah Naidoo, sales director
at Group Africa Holdings,
highlighted the fact that while
the new systems at the port had
eliminated the need for manual
processing, the technology was
often offline, which caused greater
delays.
